Power

Name

Duration

GM:

Mark (bigdoubleya)

Spring 1901-end

Players:

Austria

Philip Ward

Spring 1901-Fall 1903

England

Sean Cable

Spring 1901-Fall 1905

France

Adam Kuehn

Sean Cable

Spring 1901-Winter 1905
Spring 1906-end

Germany

Stephen Worthy

Spring 1901-end

Italy

Jon Knight

Spring 1901-end

Russia

?

Chris Morse

Spring 1901
Fall 1901-end

Turkey

Erik Skoglund

Spring 1901-Fall 1906

Mark’s EOG

GOOFY NEXT?

Have you not tried it?
Better than Dr Pepper
And no HFCS

Sean’s EOG

As England:    

SHORT SHIFT

Alas, my play was poor.
The French bumped me off, then shock!
Went, job done, I guess.

As France:

LAME O

There's something rotten
In the State of Denmark when
I can't kill Russia. Twice!!

Adam’s EOG

EVERYONE LOSES

Resigned, I observe.
Then Kermit stabs! Alas, not.
Doom has struck: Stalemate.

My EOG

LONG GAME

Sadly no solo,
Never was a contender
But Haikus are fun!

Thanks all for the game, I wasn’t surprised by the names involved and I’m glad I made it to share the draw.

In keeping with a poetic game, my own involvement enacted somewhat of a greek tragedy, from hubris to katabasis to redemption.  I opened with a stupidly over-complicated opening, triggered by my desire to do something fun.  This failed, and I descended into a fairly insignificant minor role.  But in the end I was reasonably proud of my part in the stop-the-leader.

I too was half-expecting the stab from France at the end, but it would have been a mistake, as hed never have made the 18 centres before Russia.  I did think about trying to expand a little, which might have made it an open game again, but in the end I decided I wouldn’t have grown fast enough to rival France and Russia, so a draw seemed fitting.

The use of haikus was interesting.  This being our only verbal form of communication, my early haikus were all about requests and planning, and therefore didn’t really show any poetic or comedic intent.  It was only when there was nothing to discuss that I started to write anything decent.  I caught up reasonably well, thanks to a happy hour spent collecting names of famous rabbits and recycling them shamelessly.  I’m hoping people caught the Caerbannog reference.  Others seemed to go for interesting poems from the start instead of communicating, which possibly helped Russia’s ascent to dominance.

Anyway, a fitting result and I’ll see everyone in the next one.

Jon’s EOG

GREEN KNIGHT

Running away, huh?
Come back here! I'll bite your legs off!
I'm invincible!

Thanks to everyone for a great game! And thanks again to Mark!

I chose Italy because I knew it would provide good fodder for fun Haikus. A full cabinet of Marx Brothers can’t be all bad. How they got in my cabinet.. But I digress.

This is probably where I am expected to divulge my strategic secrets. Right. First goal is to not get killed in the first year. Only by luck was Austria chosen over my fine green lands.

After mid game, it was just trying not to get crushed from two sides. I’m still a little surprised France did not stab. It would have been messy, but I think he could have pulled off either a solo or a two way draw. With me, of course. Right.

So, I hope to see you all again soon, perhaps in Goofy Land.

Chris’s EOG

WARREN PEACE

Warrior poets,
Weapons sheathed, pond'ring which cut
Deepest.  Sword, or brush?

BELATED POST-MORTEM

No, not forgotten
Merely late.  Wanna be in
Stephen's collection.

I remember spotting Mark's game announcement and thinking that it sounded like great fun, but at the time I felt I was at my limit for games (notably Stephen's Stab! series) so I passed.  Fortunately for me it took a little while for Haiku II to get started, and then the original Russia dropped out after Spring 01, so when Mark posted for a replacement I was free and able to get the spot.

Communicating via haiku was a great gimmick, and I really enjoyed writing the poems and reading what the rest of you came up with.  It often took me as long or longer to write my poem as it did to figure out my orders.  The challenge was to both communicate (to advance my strategy) and amuse (to win the poetry prizes and the general admiration of my peers for what a clever fellow I am).  Pretty big ambition for only 17 syllables.  There were a couple of times in the early part of the game where I thought I managed to do achieve both goals in the same poem, but usually it was one or the other.  I sort of fell into a pattern where I would alternate between actual diplomacy and straight entertainment themes.  Here's where the retreat and adjustment phases came in handy to squeeze everything in.  Of course, this caught up with me at least once when we had a Spring with no retreats and we went straight to Fall.  "Wait a minute!  I have something else I need to say!"

Of course, as the game wore on and everyone started hating the Bear -- for reasons of jealousy, we must presume; petty jealousy of his military prowess, his small genius for poetic imagery, and his virile allure to the opposite sex -- there was no need to communicate with a partner so it was mainly just poetic onanism and Frog bashing.

Challenging as the poetry aspect was, the game was still gunboat, so it didn't require the time commitment of standard dip.  That's part of any gunboat variant's attraction.  The Haiku twist was a brilliant way to introduce some smiles to the game.  I think it's perfect for a quick, fun game.  And that's exactly what we had... until 1906.

This was a game in two parts.  The first part was interesting and fun, while the second was frustrating and dull.  I hope you'll believe me when I say I'm not basing that opinion on the fact that I didn't take the solo.  If you look at the map at the end of 1905, you have almost exactly the lines that existed at the end of the game six years later.  By the last two years I was willing to give up a few dots just to get the game going again, but apparently by then a general malaise had taken hold and euthanasia was the only option.

It's ridiculous, don't you think?  In 1905, France eliminated England and had a fleet in St. Pete.  He was the second leader on the board, with 9 dots to Russia's 10.  And he gave up! 

I'm not sure exactly when France II took over, but if think it was very soon after England was eliminated.  Interestingly, we learned from your EOGS, Sean, that you were both England and France II.  (I got that right, didn't I?)  So, what you didn't explain, and that I really want to know, is what happened to you to make you single-mindedly focused on thwarting the Bear?  As England you opened to the North, which is fine, but when you had captured Norway and Sweden, and the French were in the Channel, why did you continue to ignore them and head for St. Pete?

Then, after taking over France, you completely ignored every opportunity to do anything but stop Russia from soloing.  I mean, I guess you can count yourself successful because you did it, but what's the point?  Jon and Stephen mentioned it, too.  Sure you might not have won, but so what?  Most people think the point is to try, especially in gunboat where you don't know anyone and aren't forced to betray any trusts.  Can you enlighten us?  Was it something I said?  I mean, was it something I said EARLY in the game -- before your strategy was set.  I recognize that later in the game I may have said a couple of negative things about France.  Nothing personal, really.  Just trying to see if I could shake up the game.

Well, that's what I have to say to France.  I like to speak to everyone in my EOGS, so on to the rest.  I don't know if I missed it, but I don't remember seeing an actual list of players and their country assignments.  I only know who played which country by their EOGS.

Austria - I thought you did a good job in a hopeless situation.  I enjoyed your poems and I appreciate that you fought to the end.  I hope you enjoyed my farewell poem.  I thought it was one of my best.

Turkey - I liked your poetry, too.  I appreciated your help getting started against Austria.  I'm sorry to have stabbed you but... the opportunity was there and was in an anti-Juggernaut mood as a result of another game.  I'm also of the general opinion that if Russia's best chance to solo is by stabbing Turkey early, before they get too strong.  So, it was definitely nothing personal.

Germany - Stephen.  What can I say?  I pushed you back but I couldn't put you away.  Of course, I was counting on your having to worry about the French at your backs.  I know we were both surprised by his failure to attack or even threaten you.  I'm still not sure whether you saw through my plan to sneak out into the Atlantic via Sweden, or whether I just blew my moves in one crucial season.  I was a little surprised that you didn't take advantage of the French complacency by trying a trick of your own.  A move to Finland, or maybe a convoy into Livonia.  Might have been fun.  I also thank you for picking up on the bears and bunnies themes in the poetry when I did my Adams-based poem re: Watership Down and Shardik.  I'm afraid that I did not catch the Caerbannog reference.  FWIW, I'm not sure anyone got my Shardik reference, either.  Oh!  I can't forget to chide you for "stealing" my Jabberwocky theme!  I had mine ready for two weeks, just waiting for the turn I was going to stab Turkey, and then you stole my thunder just the season before, I think it was.  ;-p

Italy - Jon.  I loved the Marx themes and it made it easier having those to draw on when trying to communicate with you.  As I'm sure you realized, I had high hopes that you would join me and we would take on F/G together.  I really would have left you alone if you had.  At least, I would have left you alone until and unless I absolutely needed an Italian dot for a solo.  Hey, I knew if I got that far you'd want me to have it!  ;-)

GM - Mark.  Brilliant job, mate!  You're a better man than I am, and I say that not just because I'm jealous of you for thinking up this genius game.  I think I enjoyed every message I got from you because you take the time to answer questions thoughtfully and sprinkle your conversation with new and interesting topics.  As much as I love gunboat games, they can be a little lonely because you're dying to talk about the game with SOMEONE.  I think you recognize that and I, for one, really appreciate a GM I can actually converse with.  You ever have one of those guys where the sum total of all their correspondence is "rcvd"?  I hate that.

I can also say that you exhibited the patience of a saint.  I know for a fact that I never would have put up with the delays you did to keep the game going.  If you should ever do this again:  (1) Sign me up!  (2) Get a commitment from all players to do a full season (with retreats and adjustments) per week, and (3) NMR their arses if they can't keep up.  Quick and Fun!  Those are the watchwords.

Lastly, thanks to everyone for playing.  I hope to run into you again out in the Diplo-ether.  That is, I hope to run into you unless your name is Sean and I'm playing Russia.  (Just kidding!)  I have no idea what Goofy is, but if this group is playing, it must be good.  Give me a shout!